The Malaysian cement and steel price index has increased

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) said that the cement unit price index increased by 1.9 percent in February 2023 compared to January 2023, due to high raw material prices as well as energy and transportation costs.

In a statement on Friday, DoSM said that the average price of cement (regular Portland), which was 21.66/50 kg Malaysian Ringgit (RM) in January 2023, increased 1.5% to RM 21.99 per 50 kilograms.

Also in February 2023, the price index per unit of steel increased by 1.5% compared to last month, in line with the increase in iron ore and steel prices at the global level, mainly due to the continuous improvement of industrial demand in China.

DoSM said the average price per unit steel of mild steel round bars and Mycon 60 high tensile deformed bars increased 1.5 percent to RM 3,653.26 per tonne from RM 3,599.37 per tonne in February 2023, compared to the previous month.

Also DoSM said "Iron ore prices are expected to continue to increase, driven by optimism about future steel demand in China."

While the cement unit price index increased by 9.6 percent on an annual basis in February 2023 compared to February 2022, the steel unit price index decreased by 0.5 percent in February 2023 compared to the same month of the previous year.